Requirement for college students to have iPhone or iPod touch?

My own experience with having to buy a new iPhone made me think about the college programs that have required students to have an iPhone or iPod touch.

My first generation iPhone was only 19 months old when it lost its wireless ability. It didn’t even make it through my required two-year service plan with AT&T. But it was past the one-year standard warranty for hardware problems. So when the Apple specialist said it was a hardware problem with the wiring, that was the end of the phone’s ability to do wireless.

What would happen to me if I were a student at Abilene Christian University in Texas or in the School of Journalism at Missouri where an iPhone or iPod touch is required? I still can use many of the functions of my iPhone, but it has no wireless ability, which would mean, I would assume, that I couldn’t do many of my assignments.

I didn’t drop my phone or do anything that would have damaged it. So would I have to buy a replacement? ACU gives each student an iPhone or iPod Touch. What is the agreement if a student damages the device or if the device quits funtioning? And what would happen if a student at Missouri bought the iPhone or iPod Touch and had the same problem I did? Would that student have to purchase a replacement?

When I’ve read about programs like ACU and Missouri requiring/providing iPhones or iPod touches, I’ve thought that was a good idea — progressive and functional for students and teachers. But certainly those involved in setting up such a program need to be thinking beyond the first months of the use of these devices to think about replacements and even upgrades.